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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Lawrence Russell Brewer, one of the people convicted of dragging James Byrd Jr to his death chained to a pickup truck, has received an execution date of Sept 21, 2011. James Byrd Jr's son, Ross Byrd, opposes the death penalty even in the case of the people who murdered his father. Ross Byrd was at the 3rd Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty in 2002. Scroll down for a news article from 2002 mentioning Ross's appearance at the march. Ross was stationed in the Army in Fort Benning, Ga., when he heard about his father’s murder in 1998.

The Wall Street Journal reported in 2002 that Jasper County had to raise property taxes by 6.7% over two years to pay for the death penalty trials.

One of three men convicted for their involvement in the infamous East Texas dragging death slaying 13 years ago has received an execution date.

A state district judge signed an order Tuesday setting Sept. 21 as the date 44-year-old Lawrence Russell Brewer gets lethal injection in Huntsville for killing James Byrd, said Laroni Gray with the Jasper County district attorney's office.

Brewer was among three white men convicted of chaining the 49-year-old black man to the back of a pickup truck and dragging him to death on a country road near Jasper, about 115 miles northeast Houston.

Brewer and John William King were convicted and sentenced to die for the June 1998 racial hate crime that shocked the nation for its brutality. King's case remains in the courts on appeal. The third man, Shawn Berry, received life in prison.

2002 March to Abolish the Death Penalty at Texas Capitol in AustinSpeakers from different backgrounds speak out at third annual rally
By Katherine Sayre (Daily Texan Staff)
October 14, 2002

Jeanette Popp wants the man who raped and killed her daughter to live.
Popp told her story of advocating a life sentence for Achim Josef Marino, the man who murdered her daughter in 1988, to a crowd of about 200 protesters demanding a moratorium on capital punishment at the state Capitol Saturday afternoon.

"I saved [Marino's] life, and I saved my daughter's honor," Popp said Saturday. "They will not kill in her name."

Popp's voice rang out over a crowd gathered on the Capitol grounds after protesters marched from Republic Park to the Capital chanting "No Justice, No Peace - Moratorium Now." The third annual rally against the death penalty included speakers representing a range of issues surrounding capital punishment.

Renny Cushing, executive director of Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, said that contrary to popular belief, many murder victims' families oppose the death penalty.

"We've come to oppose the death penalty because of what it does to us and to society as a whole ... a ritual killing just expands the scope of pain," Cushing said.

He said that many families find their love for the victim is questioned after speaking out against capital punishment. He said Texas' Bill of Rights for Crime Victims should be amended to prevent families from being discriminated against during trials. The bill is a set of legal guidelines that allows a victim and his/her family certain protection rights and involvement in a criminal proceeding.

"It's about no more victims - anywhere," he said.

Ross Byrd, the son of James Byrd Jr. who was murdered in Jasper in 1998, said executions by the state are murder.

"The death penalty is all wrong," Byrd said. "It goes against God, and God said 'thou shalt not kill' ... Thou shalt not kill and that's even for the justice system."

Francisco Javier Alejo, consulate general of Mexico, spoke on the Capitol steps about Mexico's opposition to capital punishment.

Alejo said that while Mexico respects the United States government's right to make independent decisions, Mexico also asks for the same respect.

"We fully respect that as well, as we expect to be respected for our full and adamant opposition to the death penalty," he said, adding that Mexico regards the death penalty as "abominable."
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"Thou shall not kill". It's one of the ten commandments. It is the number one reason many religious people do not like the death penalty. "Thou shall not kill" Exodus 20:13. It goes to show how many of these people use religion as a defense when in reality they have not read the Bible themselves. It addresses everything. Thou shall not kill. The consequences if you do kill is in the very next chapter. Exodus 21:12-14. "Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death. However if he does not do it intentionally but God lets it happen, he is to flee to a place I will designate. But if a man schemes and kills another man deliberately, take him away from my altar and put him to death." You can't accidentally tie up a man and drag him from one place to another. He was killed intentionally therefore the consequences for the murderers is only death. I am a Christian and I support the death penalty.